Tribal Membership and Enrollment

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• Tribal Membership and Enrollment
• BIA Providers Conference
• Anchorage
• November, 2007
• Prepared by Lisa Jaeger
• Tribal Government Specialist
• Tanana Chiefs Conference
• Fairbanks 1-800-478-6822
• lisa.jaeger_at_tananachiefs.org

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Clan system membership
Modern tribal enrollment
Shareholder membership in Native Corporations
Certificate of Indian Blood CIB
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Importance of Tribal Membership

• The tribes identity is based on who the members
  are
• Tribal court jurisdiction for Alaska tribes is
  related to tribal membership
• John v Baker
• C.R.H
• Although funding for some Alaska Native services
  are related to where people live, tribal funding
  issues and services are becoming more and more
  related to enrollment

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Membership and Enrollment

• Membership is being a member in a tribe, or
  eligible for membership. Tribes decide what the
  qualifications are for membership.
• Enrollment is filling out enrollment application,
  having it approved by the tribal council, and
  being added to the tribal membership roll. This
  is the process for being an enrolled member of
  the tribe. Tribes decide what their enrollment
  process shall be.

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Terminology

• Tribal membership
• Base roll
• Lineal descendant
• Enrollment
• Membership roll
• Blood quantum
• Dual enrollment
• Relinquishing membership
• Disenrolling a member
• Honorary tribal membership

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Exclusive Jurisdiction over Membership Issues

• Waldron v. United States 143 F. 413
  (C.C.D.S.D. 1905)
• A woman of 5/16 Sioux blood was recognized by
  the Sioux tribe as a tribal member. The
  Department of Interior refused to recognize her
  tribal membership because she did not have enough
  tribal blood to meet the Department's definition
  of "Indian." In this case, the federal court
  decided that "Whether or not a person is an
  Indian, is to be determined, not by the common
  law, but by the laws or usages of the tribe..."
  The woman could be a tribal member. This case
  confirms that tribes have a basic right to
  determine membership.

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• While tribal constitutions may contain some
  information about tribal membership
  qualifications, it is important to have a
  detailed enrollment ordinance to sort out many of
  the issues surrounding membership and enrollment!

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Topics typically found in a membership and
enrollment ordinance

• Purpose and authority
• Membership requirements and qualifications
• Dual enrollment
• Confidentiality
• Enrollment procedures
• Representatives of minors and others
• Appeals process
• Maintaining the membership roll
• Relinquishment of tribal membership
• Disenrollment
• Honorary tribal membership
• Amending and repealing the membership ordinance

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Tribal Membership Issues

• Qualifications for membership
• Base Roll and Current Roll
• Dual enrollment
• Categories of Members

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Qualifications for Tribal Membership

• Most tribes operate their enrollment by
  establishing a base roll, and lineal descendants
  of the base roll members are automatically
  eligible for membership, unless there is a blood
  quantum requirement, or some other specific
  requirement, and a descendant does not meet that.
• Most tribes also allow for adoption of new
  members when Native persons who are not related
  to base roll members move into a village
• The tribal membership and enrollment ordinance
  should spell out the conditions for enrollment
  such as how long they should live in the village
  before they may apply, can they serve on the
  tribal council, can they be disenrolled if the
  permanently move out, and other such issues

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Membership language in old IRA constitutions

• First Members.list of residents, or census
• Children.all children shall be members
• Loss of Membershipwillingly give it up, or moves
  away, intending not to return
• New Membership.persons who have lost their
  membership or other persons who have set up homes
  in the village
• Membership rules.the village may make rules to
  carry out this Article

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Base Roll and Current Roll

• Base Roll
• The base roll is the original list of tribal
  members
• It may date back to the 1920s for example, or it
  may be a list developed in the 1990s.
• Once a base roll is adopted by a tribe, that list
  remains the same
• Current Roll
• The current membership roll changes as people are
  born, pass on, or are adopted into the tribe
• It reflects the current membership

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Dual Membership/Enrollment

• Dual membership/enrollment is when a person is
  enrolled or eligible to be a member in more than
  one tribe
• It is very common that Alaska Native children
  have parents who come from two different tribes
• Tribes typically allow dual enrollment for
  children under 18, in fact, most tribes consider
  all lineal descendants under 18 tribal members
  regardless of whether or not they are enrolled,
  and prohibit disenrollment of children for any
  reason

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• Alaska tribes vary widely in allowing dual
  enrollment for those 18 and over
• Many tribes that allow dual enrollment for those
  over 18 put some financial or political
  conditions on dual enrollment (I.e. giving
  service priority to those who are solely enrolled
  to the tribe when funding sources permit, or,
  prohibit serving on the tribal council if a
  person is dually enrolled)

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Categories/Types/Groups of Members

• Eligible for enrollment
• Enrolled members
• Base roll members
• Current membership roll
• Lineal descendants
• Active and Inactive members
• Adopted Native children
• Adopted adults who move into the village
• May or may not be eligible to serve on Council
• Rules about adopting adults vary widely
• Dual enrolled
• May or may not be restriction on dual enrollees
• Honorary tribal members

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• Without members, there are no tribes